When the blue night is over my face
On the dark side of the world in space
When I’m all alone with the stars above
You are the one I love
*
To be honest, I don’t know much about Michael Learns To Rock (MLTR). Of course they are popular in Asia, but I only like few of the songs. And they are more like a romantic band and most teenagers (like me at that time) didn’t really listen to them.
Husband is a different case though. He loves their music a lot. Since he accompanied me to the Backstreet Boys concert, when he asked to go to MLTR concert, I immediately said yes. I knew I am going to be lost most of the time; not knowing the songs and everything, but it’s his favorite band so I figured it’s worth the effort x)
*
The concert was again held at The Star Vista, same place with BSB’s last time. Perfect place for acoustic concert if you asked me. The sound system is really nice. When we watched BSB one last time, I thought it’s a wrong place to hold such high energy concert. It’s supposed to be in Stadium or someplace where people can jump and dance around.
OK I digress.
Concert was supposed to start at 8 pm, but we reached quite late. We performed Maghrib prayer first before rushed to the concert hall. It was already 8.10 pm when we finally were at level 5. And then, there was this announcement that no food and drink bought outside can be brought to the hall. OH WHAT THE.
I always think this kind of rule is ridiculous. I won’t mind buying something from the stalls inside concert/theatre IF ONLY they are not pricey and most importantly, HALAL; which by the way is never the case.
We already bought some bread and water from Cheers, so we needed to sit down first and gulped everything in 5 minutes. So annoying.
*
We were finally inside, and gotta admit, our seats were much better than ours at BSB concert. But poor people can’t be choosey. BSB’s concert ticket price was ridiculously high compared with MLTR.
Here are the views from our seats before the concert began.
Some people took a lot of selfies. And I noticed most of them are quite old. Perhaps they’re about mid 40s. Some even brought their children along. Made me think to bring Zal to a concert like this when he’s old enough 🙂
*
Concert started around 8.20 pm. Hm. I start to think that there will always be a grace period for concerts at The Star Vista since BSB concert also started around the same time.
MLTR didn’t waste a lot of time and their opening was clearly straightforward. No big scenes, nothing. They just came out from the sides of the stage and started playing the instruments.
First song was “Silent Times”. Followed by “Sleeping Child” where Husband sang along to the song perfectly. I am quite proud of him x)
Next songs were “Love Will Never Lie” and “Call On Love”. Talk about romantic band… wow. I honestly never heard any band as romantic as MLTR.
Speaking of romantic, their next song was “Romantic Balcony”. Is it just me or does this song sorta remind you of Romeo & Juliet. Oh Romeo, where art thou Romeo?
After a string of their popular songs, the vocalist sang a short song with him having solo moment. The song was about environment and not making our Earth as naked as the Moon. Oh man, it was so heartbreaking :’( The lyrics, the song, the melody.. I couldn’t help but thinking of what kind of Earth we are giving to our children.
Concert went on with another one of crowd favorite songs, “I’m Gonna Be Around”. Oooh, I knew this song! So glad that I finally could sing along as well although it was only for the chorus.
I’m gonna love you till the end
I’m gonna be your very true friend
I wanna share your ups and downs
I’m gonna be around
Next on the setlist was “Forever And A Day”. Honestly… I almost fell asleep when the song was just halfway. Perhaps this song is just not my cup of tea.
“Out Of The Blue” played afterwards. Again, I went “Ooohh, I knew this!”. Really, it’s so nice to get to sing to a song you know by heart.
Perhaps to wake some people up (including me!), the guys played some guitar while the vocalist went backstage to change clothes and perhaps to take some water. When he was back, he was already changed to a very metallic blue shirt that Husband commented, “He looks like he’s going for Raya…”
“Hot To Handle” was something unexpected came out. It was quite an up tempo song and I kinda enjoyed it; although I didn’t remember this one either ^^;
It turned out the blue shirt was some kind of a code, cause soon it was “Blue Night’’s turn. Then, the concert hall turned like this:
So many flashes!
When it ended, the band played one of my favorite songs! “You Took My Heart Away”. Ooohh, suddenly I remember when I sang along to this song whenever it was played on the radio 🙂 For the sake of memories, I am gonna throw in the MV here as well.
Apparently, MLTR was aware that Singapore is going to celebrate SG50 next month. As an early birthday present, they are going to sing one of the Chinese songs that they really liked they made an adaptation out of it. I was kinda curious until they played “Take Me To Your Heart”. Oh this is an interesting fact! Never knew that it’s originally a Chinese song, but I thought it’s somehow familiar to my ears (blame my Chinese . That explained a lot!
Next on the list was “The Actor”. They said it’s a song that started everything for them back then. I wasn’t that aware with the title of the song so I started googling (lol). It was released back in 1991 when I was only 4 years old. But then the song played; when it reached the chorus, I instantly knew.
I’m not an actor I’m not a star
and I don’t even have my own car
But I’m hoping so much you’ll stay
that you will love me anyway
I remember this! When I was perhaps 7 or 8, I remember this song was being played soo many times on the radio.
Meanwhile, Husband was singing so passionately beside me x)
“25 Minutes” was the next present from the band. Followed by “Wild Women” and “Watch Your Back”. I started to get pump for the concert after a series of super mellow numbers x)
“Someday” was up and the screen played a very nice mash up from fans all around the world singing the song!
Time was almost 9.45 pm then. After this song, the guys took a bow and went to the backstage. Everyone started chanting for encore; and soon afterwards the band was back on stage.
“We forgot one thing. It’s about taking a selfie.”
The crowd went nuts, especially them who are sitting on front row seats :). Here is the selfie I took from their Facebook page.
And the encore stage started! “Paint My Love” was first, and whooo, it was like a choir inside! I even saw some (old) couples dancing on their seat!
Following after that was “That’s Why (You Go Away)”. Husband would probably kill me for this, but I always thought this is a song from Aerosmith! I didn’t know why, but somehow the song has that rock aura that doesn’t match MLTR at all (imo, though).
Last song was “Breaking My Heart”. I guess people were ready to say goodbye then; Flashes were again everywhere and choir ensued.
The band finished the song with extra chorus, and I couldn’t help but notice how people were smiling bitterly around me. It was almost 10.10 pm, and the curtain would soon closed. Such a nice ending.
The guys didn’t say much for their closing stage. But I could see how they enjoyed the audience and the stage as well. They bowed and waved goodbye. It’s short and sweet.
*
MLTR may not be my favorite band, but they are part of me growing up. Their songs were regulars on local radio stations and I bet a lot of my peers know their music by heart.
This concert of them was quite alright in my opinion. The sound was good, the band was awesome, not a hint of tiredness although they are currently touring across Asia. They are professionals indeed. But I kinda wish that there were some intimate moments between them and the fans. More small talks and interactions would be very much appreciated. It felt like it was really rushed instead; song after song, not giving fans time to really ‘feel’ the moment.
But again, perhaps it’s due to time constraint. They could only give so much with the time they were given. Hopefully it would be better next time. And considering they have been coming to Singapore annually, I could see we’re coming to their concert again next year, haha.
Closing this post with this one below; my ultimate favorite song from MLTR that unfortunately they didn’t play last night. Oh well ^^;
PS. And here is the Spotify playlist of the concert!
